Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats are benefiting big-time from outside help.

Just consider this:

In each of the gubernatorial elections since 1998, out-of-state donors provided between 9% and 15% of the total campaign cash collected by all candidates, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign for the Journal Sentinel.

By contrast, campaign contributions coming from outside Wisconsin in this year's Walker recall jumped to a surprising 57% of the total money raised by all candidates, due largely to record-breaking out-of-state fundraising by Walker. The group looked only at contributions of $100 or more received during the election year and the year immediately preceding the election.

"Wisconsin is seen as a domino," said Mike McCabe , executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "There are a lot of wealthy interests across the country on both sides that want to make sure the domino falls in a direction that favors them."

But it's not just in direct donations to candidates that outside interests are making their influence felt.

Here are several others:

State and national unions have poured millions of dollars into creating, staffing and funding two front groups - We Are Wisconsin and Wisconsin for Falk.

The first group spent nearly $10.8 million helping Democrats in last year's summer recall races and more than $2 million more this year, and the second organization paid out about $4 million in a failed effort to help former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk win the Democratic nomination.

National groups, such as the Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association, have pumped cash from around the country into Wisconsin. The Republican group has spent just under $5 million to produce and air its own ads here, while the Democratic one has funneled about $2 million to local groups for ad buys and polling.

Both campaigns have brought on hired guns from outside the state to help steer their election efforts.

Notably, Barrett's campaign manager, Jay Howser, is from Pennsylvania and has run election efforts in Ohio, Indiana and Louisiana. Walker has two outsiders among his top staff: Deputy campaign manager Dan Blum came from Ohio, and communications director Ciara Matthews hails from Nevada.

One veteran Wisconsin campaign official said it's becoming more common for statewide campaigns to rely on outside staff and financial support.

What's different this time is the magnitude of support from non-Wisconsin sources.

"The national significance of this election has placed more interest in Gov. Walker than would normally be there for a gubernatorial race in Wisconsin," said Mark Graul, a GOP campaign adviser. "This race is certainly going to have implications beyond our state."

The numbers bear that out.

According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis, Walker raised only 7% of his funds in the 2010 contest from outside the state's borders. Even for a major-party gubernatorial candidate, this was a small percentage.

Walker's primary opponent that year, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, gathered nearly a quarter of his funds from out-of-state donors, as had Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in the 2006 race.

This year, though, Walker is setting a new standard for Wisconsin candidates.

Since the start of the year, the Wauwatosa Republican received two-thirds of his $13.4 million in donations from individuals and groups outside the state. Campaign records show Walker has received money from donors in all 50 states since he took office in January 2011.

Overall, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis found that only about $2 of every $5 raised by Walker comes from Wisconsin. The first-term governor has traveled to at least 10 locations around the country to collect cash from supporters this year.

Walker is not the only gubernatorial candidate drawing on outside financial backing this year.

Falk - the favorite of state and national unions - received about 40% of her campaign cash from national groups and out-of-state individuals, some of it raised at fundraisers in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and the percentage was even higher for Secretary of State Doug La Follette.

Both lost in the May 8 primary to Barrett.

What's not clear is whether the national and state unions and other Democratic groups will continue to put money into the race. Recent polls show Barrett trailing Walker, who holds a huge financial advantage. Barrett has raised only 12% of his funds from outside Wisconsin, but Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hosted a major fundraiser for Barrett in March, just days before the mayor became a recall candidate.

Last week, the Washington Postquoted an anonymous Wisconsin Democrat complaining that the Democratic National Committee had failed to grant the state party's request for $500,000 to help with its field operation in the recall contest.

"Scott Walker has the full support and backing of the Republican Party and all its tentacles," the Wisconsin Democratic official said. "We are not getting similar support."

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate went on national radio and TV to downplay the dispute, saying the state party has been working with the national party and Democratic governors group from the start.

He said he expects the Democratic National Committee and President Barack Obama's campaign to provide staff to help with the voter turnout effort for Barrett before the June 5 election. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also announced she will host a May 30 fundraiser for Barrett.

"I feel like they're all in," Tate said of the national party.

But what about the unions?

Clearly, Barrett was not their candidate. Top officials with public employee unions tried to discourage him from running for office late last year, a move that eventually backfired.

Since being embarrassed in the primary, the public employee unions have been keeping a low profile. Top officials with the Wisconsin Education Association Council and other labor groups did recently sit for a private powwow with Barrett.

Republicans are expecting those unions to funnel their campaign funds through such groups as the Greater Wisconsin Committee and We Are Wisconsin in the coming weeks. Already, Greater Wisconsin - a liberal attack group - has been running a spate of anti-Walker TV spots.

"Union special interests throughout the country have made recalling Gov. Walker their number one priority, and the Greater Wisconsin Committee is a clearinghouse for the big union contributions that have been funding this liberal recall effort," state Republican Party spokesman Ben Sparks said Friday.

For months, Walker has been offering estimates as to how much the unions will spend in this race.

In a fundraising letter sent out Monday, Walker wrote that the labor groups have "got revenge on their minds. It's power they seek. And they'll spend upwards of $40 million to get their way."

That's even more money than Walker has vacuumed up for the race.

But McCabe, a frequent Walker critic, suggested this was just campaign rhetoric. Top Republicans overestimated union spending last year, too.

According to his group, state and national unions have spent no more than $7 million on the race so far this year - just about half what they dropped in last year's recall races. Walker and his political and corporate allies have spent three times that much since the beginning of the year.

And those numbers are likely to rise for all sides over the next weeks.

"This is not going to be a lasting phenomenon," McCabe said of the heavy spending by outside interests. "But I could be wrong."

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Madison. Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice.